Dalinar's visions

[Stormblessed]

I can't help shake this feeling that Dalinar's visions transport his spirit back in time, so that he does not just experience past events, but influences them.

If it was just a recount of the past, Dalinar wouldn't be able to act like himself, but would act like the person he possessed. However he does act like himself - he fought off the smoke creatures, which surprised the wife of the person he possessed, as well as the Knights Radiants. He told Nohadon that he would write a book, which surprised Nohadon - I can't help but think that this line maybe influenced Nohadon later, making him write the Way of Kings.

Anyway, the fact is that these visions don't just feel like a recount of the past, it is as if Dalinar is in the past, experience the events as they happen.

[Fireborn]

I very much doubt it.  It simply seems that he is experiencing a simulation created by the Almighty.  If he were to actually be changing things, the implications would be much larger, the changes much bigger, than what we've seen.

[Stormblessed]

I very much doubt it.  It simply seems that he is experiencing a simulation created by the Almighty.  If he were to actually be changing things, the implications would be much larger, the changes much bigger, than what we've seen.

I don't think so much as changing the events, but he is influencing the event. Remember Lost: what happens happened. When Jack and co went back in time, they didn't change the past, in fact they had always gone back in time, and if they had not, then they would've been changing the future. (Yes it gets really confusing  )

[Harakeke]

I very much doubt it.  It simply seems that he is experiencing a simulation created by the Almighty.  If he were to actually be changing things, the implications would be much larger, the changes much bigger, than what we've seen.

Unfortunately the Almighty is (by his own admission) dead.  Some of his spiritual power may remain, possibly enabling time-travel visions, Knight Radiant powers, etc. -- but there seems to be no... cognitive processing happening.   If the Almighty can't even carry on a two-sided conversation, I imagine it would be even more difficult for him to tailor a simulation that adapted to the viewer's actions.

It seems to me that the Almighty picked specific points in time when he was still alive to record snippets of a static "magical video will". The viewer gets their consciousness transported back to just before that moment, and then the message plays.  It's not an exact science, so the viewer might have some wiggle room to affect the past in small ways while they're there -- but the Almighty picked moments that would be unlikely to lead to a major paradox.

[Stormblessed]

But everyone reacts to Dalinar's different. It isn't that they ignore the fact that he is different, as would happen in a recording of the past.

[Harakeke]

But everyone reacts to Dalinar's different. It isn't that they ignore the fact that he is different, as would happen in a recording of the past.

Yeah, what I meant was that only the Almighty's commentary track was pre-recorded, but the surrounding physical setting was "real" because the viewer's consciousness was displaced in time.

Wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey...

[Stormblessed]

Does that stop it being time-travel? It complicates things but still, something doesn't feel right.

[Harakeke]

Does that stop it being time-travel? It complicates things but still, something doesn't feel right.

I think of it as time travel with a voiceover.
Given that we don't really know anything at all regarding the Almighty's actual capabilities -- I'd say pretty much anything goes when it comes to speculation.

[Galavantes]

It seems more likely to me that the Almighty would be able to take a "snapshot" of the personality of the people involved in the event he is 'recording', thus instead of a static recording the visions are able to react to Dalinars actions within the scope of the personality that each character in the vision was modeled after. If the Almighty's powers are equal to even a simple computer (and I have to assume they are) then its no big deal at all to just run the simulation.

Thus the visions aren't "custom molded" to the viewer so much as dynamically generated based on the recorded personalities. In this case we could assume that if the simulation is run without the presence of the viewer to affect it, then it would play out in exactly the same way as the Almighty first saw the event in real life, so long as the simulation was running an accurate portrayal of the characters involved. Then when the viewer does enter the simulation, the character's responses to the situation should reflect what the actual people would have done in a reasonably accurate fashion.

That explanation works for me anyway.

[CabbyHat]

I would imagine that if he did go back in time, it would be to moments where the outcome would be more or less the same with or without his interference. The wife and child find some way to survive until the Radiants get there, the king gets the idea for a book somewhere else (sorry, having trouble with names, it's been a long day.) So, either way, it can't matter that much whether he's traveling or just witnessing events. The Almighty did say he didn't know who'd get the messages, right? I can't imagine he'd let the possibility exist that some real slimeball could travel back in time and figure out a way to exploit or change events. He could be making everything much worse.

[Stormblessed]

It seems more likely to me that the Almighty would be able to take a "snapshot" of the personality of the people involved in the event he is 'recording', thus instead of a static recording the visions are able to react to Dalinars actions within the scope of the personality that each character in the vision was modeled after. If the Almighty's powers are equal to even a simple computer (and I have to assume they are) then its no big deal at all to just run the simulation.

Thus the visions aren't "custom molded" to the viewer so much as dynamically generated based on the recorded personalities. In this case we could assume that if the simulation is run without the presence of the viewer to affect it, then it would play out in exactly the same way as the Almighty first saw the event in real life, so long as the simulation was running an accurate portrayal of the characters involved. Then when the viewer does enter the simulation, the character's responses to the situation should reflect what the actual people would have done in a reasonably accurate fashion.

That explanation works for me anyway.

AI lol. What happens if the Almighty gives these recordings AI and they become so smart they revolt against the humans and take over Roshar!! They live in the highstorms, so you can't hide from them  Maybe they are the voidbringers, and the Almighty is Odium in disguise!!

[Harakeke]

It seems more likely to me that the Almighty would be able to take a "snapshot" of the personality of the people involved in the event he is 'recording', thus instead of a static recording the visions are able to react to Dalinars actions within the scope of the personality that each character in the vision was modeled after. If the Almighty's powers are equal to even a simple computer (and I have to assume they are) then its no big deal at all to just run the simulation.

Thus the visions aren't "custom molded" to the viewer so much as dynamically generated based on the recorded personalities. In this case we could assume that if the simulation is run without the presence of the viewer to affect it, then it would play out in exactly the same way as the Almighty first saw the event in real life, so long as the simulation was running an accurate portrayal of the characters involved. Then when the viewer does enter the simulation, the character's responses to the situation should reflect what the actual people would have done in a reasonably accurate fashion.

That explanation works for me anyway.

But then why doesn't the Almighty react to Dalinar like the rest of the simulation? It seems like that would be an important feature to include in an interactive message to the future, especially given the trouble Dalinar gets into because of the lack of it.

The sort of situation I have in mind is something along the lines of the Dr. Who episode "Blink", in which the characters have a "conversation" with a pre-recorded video message from a time traveller: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZRhj03MZD4&feature=related.  The viewers can have causal interactions with people and objects in their perceived "present", but cannot interact directly with the narrator.

[Stormblessed]

I love that episode, but that one is based on the fact that the Doctor has gone into the future, to get the transcript that they have to read in the past to be made in the future, creating a continuing cycle, and a sort of paradox. This can't apply here because the Almighty is already dead, and he has bad ability to look into the future, he doesn't even know who he is talking to!!!

[Galavantes]

I'd like to get Peter's input on this. I can almost guarantee there is no time travel involved in any way here. None of Brandon's Magic systems have ever involved time travel. Yes they can bend and distort it, and even view things from the past and future, but never interact with it. His interview on the 17th shard pretty much states that all his magic systems follow some type of similar rule set.
Thus an interactive recording of some sort is a far more in-world explanation.

Why the Almighty doesn't have a set of conditionals designed for his own responses is a good question however. Maybe he even does, but Dalinar has been asking retarded questions that have no designated response. Like: "Should I trust Sadeas"

Edit-
BTW Storm that was a rather rude response to a perfectly valid theory, I mean are we trying to encourage the sharing of thought here or not?

[Stormblessed]

Just because he hasn't done it doesn't mean it can't be done. Anyway, Brandon has only worried himself in the future so far, not really focusing on the past, so its hard to tell, whether or not its possible just from what Brandon hasn't done.